Our Time Will Come - An After Story

23

Tessa

"Thank you sweetie, I'll see you next week" I tell my last client of the day before heading to my car. God, it's been a long day but just the thought of seeing Hardin on Friday is enough to get me through the next couple of days. It feels like much longer than a week since I last looked into those breathtaking eyes of his. I'm the most thankful that time is on my side and it has gone ever so quickly since Friday, when Hardin told me that he wouldn't be returning home for the weekend. Now there's only four days until I actually do get to see him and I am so ready. I'm at ease that he seems to be in much better spirits than he was on Friday. He's currently in Cleveland and says that it is yet another place that I'd adore.

I check my phone as I climb into the car,  checking the missed calls that I received while in the meeting and Im surprised to see that it was Addelyn that called me, not Hardin. I choose not to call her back as I'll be seeing her soon enough in person. I groan at the thought of the drive ahead but I smile as I remember something that Hardin has always said. 'Sometimes, the best therapy is a drive and music'. I take his word, and press shuffle on his playlist, before heading onto the freeway and driving to Landon's to collect the kids.

Emery and Auden tend to have dinner there once a week, it's usually on the day that I have meetings until late. Auden loves it there, but Emery doesn't understand why she has to go there and thinks that she's old enough to stay home by herself. There's something that doesn't sit right with me with the idea of her being all alone at home while her father is away and I'm working til late, when she could be spending time in the company of aunt and uncle.

Before I know it, I'm pulling into Landon and Nora's driveway. Addelyn opens the door to me and Auden is delighted to see his mama as he attacks me with cuddles. I glance around the room and Emery is nowhere to be seen. "Where's your sister, buddy?" I pull away from his hug. He shrugs his shoulders. Oh no, not again.

"I'm sorry aunt Tessa I tried to call you" Addelyn looks down to her feet. "Honey what is it, where is Emery?" I cup her chin in my hand, lifting her head so that she is looking at me. My heart is now racing and my palms have become sweaty. "Blake Priestley, he's in senior year like me.. He's having a party tonight" she is speaking so fast that I can barely grasp what she is saying. "His parents are out of town and his older brother Austin who's a freshman in college, is in charge while they're away, he's the one throwing the party. They're bad people aunt Tessa, I tried to warn her but she wouldn't listen" she tugs at her hair.

I'm frantic with the possibility that something has happened to my baby, when Landon walks in like everything is hunky dory. "Hey, Tessa" he smiles. "Why didn't you call me!" I scold him. "Call you about what? Emery swanning off to some high school party?" He smirks. His expression changes as I give him the death eyes. "She'll be home before you know it, we know Emery.. she'd hate it at party like that, she's just going through a phase"  He adds.

"Well Addelyn seems to think that these kids that she's with are bad people?" I snap. I am now yelling and indoor voices are no longer a thing. "Bad people to my Addy are kids who don't do their homework on time or kids who break the dress code, I really wouldn't worry Tessa" he places a reassuring hand on my shoulder.

"But dad, these kids really are bad people. Blake Priestley is the guy who almost took advantage of Millie Gladwin at homecoming last year, if principle Dawson hadn't have walked in he probably would have succeeded" the pain in my chest is back with vengeance and I can't ignore the overwhelming sense of dread that has come over me. I find myself
Covering Auden's ears as Addy continues to ramble. "Not to mention that she went to the party with Mia Dalton and Laura Bancroft, the girls who got a girl so drunk that she ended up getting her stomach pumped" she yells. "Oh...shit" is all Landon can say.